ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — The University of Georgia is set to host a regenerative engineering and medicine retreat.

The annual retreat for the UGA Regenerative Bioscience Center and the Regenerative Engineering and Medicine research center will be held Aug. 12 at the Georgia Museum of Art. The retreat is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

The Regenerative Engineering and Medicine research center, or REM, is a joint collaboration of Emory University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and UGA.

Steve Stice, director of the UGA Regenerative Bioscience Center, says the goal of the retreat is to build a foundation for a stronger regenerative medicine community in Georgia.

The new figure was announced early Thursday by the Georgia Department of Labor.

The new jobless rate is up from 7.2 percent in May but lower than the 8.6 percent rate in June of last year.

Officials say the unemployment rate increased because of seasonal factors, such as summer job loss among non-contract school workers, temporary layoffs in manufacturing, and a rise in the labor force as graduates and students entered the job market.

Elsewhere in Georgia, metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 6.3 percent.

The Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest rate at 10.4 percent.

The local area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.

Sandy Springs police officer injured in crash

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. (AP) — A Sandy Springs police officer hurt in a traffic accident while on duty is expected to recover from his injuries.

Authorities said the officer was in the right emergency lane while completing an accident call when his vehicle was struck from the back by another vehicle, which had crossed over to the emergency lane.

Police say both drivers were taken to North Fulton Hospital with what are believed to be non-life threatening injuries.

No charges were immediately filed, and police have not identified the officer or the motorist.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.

Fire at suburban Atlanta home appears to be arson

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Fire investigators say a house fire in Lawrenceville, just northeast of Atlanta, appears to be an arson blaze.

Gwinnett County fire officials say the fire was reported by a neighbor, who saw smoke pouring from the single-store home, on Monday afternoon.

Authorities say no one was home when firefighters arrived, and no injuries were reported. They say a family of four adults and two children were displaced from the home, and the American Red Cross was contacted to provide temporary assistance to them.

Fire investigators said in a statement late Wednesday that they found evidence of fires set in multiple rooms inside the house.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.

Savannah police investigate 2 shootings

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Police in Savannah are investigating two shootings that left one man with serious injuries.

Police said 19-year-old Troy Kirkland was taken to Memorial University Medical Center for treatment of a serious gunshot injury after a shooting around 6:45 p.m. Tuesday on Capitol Street.

Later Tuesday, 26-year-old Terry Brown Jr. was hospitalized at St. Joseph's Hospital with a wound to his knee after a shooting just before midnight in the area of his home on East 55th Street.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.

Bus stranded after mechanical woes, driver illness

FORT DEPOSIT, Ala. (AP) — Authorities said passengers aboard a Megabus that had a mechanical breakdown in Alabama were aboard another bus and on their way New Orleans.

WSFA-TV reports that passengers were stuck in Fort Deposit on Wednesday after the bus unexpectedly lost its air conditioning system and the driver later became ill.

The bus was heading from Atlanta to New Orleans when it lost air conditioning around 5 p.m. Wednesday and pulled into a service station.

Sean Hughes, the company's associate director of corporate affairs, said a relief bus had arrived by late Wednesday evening to take the passengers to New Orleans. The Montgomery station reports that another driver had been found to replace the one who got sick.

In a statement, Megabus apologized and said all the passengers are getting a full refund.

ATLANTA (AP) — A new report says witnesses have differing accounts of the moments before a small plane crashed in west Georgia, killing two people on board.

The preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board says three witnesses reported that the engine of the amateur-built plane continued to run normally until it crashed near Carrollton July 13. The report says two other witnesses reported that the engine was sputtering or backfiring.

The NTSB said most witnesses saw the plane flying low, followed by a sudden pitch downward or a loss of control. Investigators say the aircraft then slammed into a white oak tree, about 60 feet above the ground.

The NTSB report described the flight as a pleasure flight involving the pilot and his grandson. The agency is continuing to investigate.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.

Casino company offers apology after boat got stuck

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The company affiliated with a casino boat that got stuck off the coast near Tybee Island, Georgia, is apologizing to customers and insisting that no laws were broken.

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia teen says in a civil rights complaint that she should have been allowed to complete her schoolwork from home while pregnant and on doctor-ordered bed rest.

According to the complaint filed Thursday, 18-year-old Mikelia Seals was a junior at Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School when her doctor ordered bed rest seven months into her pregnancy. The complaint says a guidance counselor told Seals the school did not have a program letting her take classes from home.

Wilkes County Schools Superintendent Rosemary Caddell says she has not seen the complaint yet.

The complaint says Seals later was told that the school had a homebound program for students with medical conditions but pregnancy was not eligible. An attorney for Seals says that violates state rules and federal law, including Title IX.

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